


A Shot in the Dark

by leveragus



Category: Major Crimes (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 11:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leveragus/pseuds/leveragus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day after the Nutcracker, the team is ambushed and one of their own is hurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> written For TRIPLESNAP for the Secret Santa gift exchange 2 at majorcrimes livejournal page

**A Shot it the Dark.**

Andrew Flynn ran both of his hands over his face in frustration. He sighed deeply as the memories of the night before came rushing back to him. The Nutcracker had been a complete disaster, what had he been thinking? Did he really believe that he could have pulled off lying and deceiving both parts?

He especially felt terrible lying to Sharon. She has been so nice to him, trying to help him with his family and he hurt her so much. He shook his head and began working on the paper work that was waiting for him on his desk. He couldn't really concentrate, but he need a distraction to all his troubles.

How was he going to face her when she arrived?

"Hey Flynn" Lieutenant Provenza voice made him jump on his chair. "What are you doing here so early?" his old friend frowned as he sat at his desk.

As second in command, it wasn't unusual for Provenza to be already at the office .The older man was always there before all the others. That morning Flynn wished his friend would have stayed in bed a bit longer. He had the annoying ability of reading him like an open book and Andy was sure that as soon as he opened his mouth, Provenza would know that something was wrong. He really wasn't in the mood for the "I told you so"s.

He shrugged. "Nothing, just catching up on some paperwork" he quickly lifted his head, but then looked back down.

"My God Flynn! You look terrible."

He shouldn't be offended by that. He had barely slept, so he knew exactly how he looked. Puffy red eyes and black circles underneath them. He hasn't even eaten so he was probably pale too. If only his doctor knew that he had forgotten to take his blood pressure pill that morning too. 

"Yeah, and you are a ray of sunshine" Andy replied with his passive-aggressive sarcasm.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" he snapped. "Now can I just go back to fill these?" he opened his arms and pointed and the stack of documents.

Provenza shook his head and started working on his paperwork. There was something wrong with his friend and he was going to find out what, he just hoped it wasn’t something to do with alcohol. They had been working in silence for nearly fifteen minutes when the rest of the team arrived. They were all cheery and smiling while greeting the two lieutenants.

Andy just nodded at them barely looking up. Then he heard them: the unmistakable clicks of the captain's heels on the marble floor. They were coming closer and closer, followed by Rusty's trainers. His desk was right next to her office door, so she was going to have to walk pass by him.

There was the noise of the magnetic card passing over the key pad and then the door opened.

"Good morning everyone" she exclaimed, in one hand she had a cup of coffee while the other one held her briefcase. Rusty gave an awkward wave behind her and then went to Buzz for his daily school assignment.

Sharon stopped next to Amy's desk. "Any news Lieutenant Provenza?" she asked.

"Nope, captain. Looks like murders decided to take a day off."

"Wouldn't that be wonderful" she smirked and rolled her eyes at him.

"Let's hope for a quiet day, captain" Amy prompted and everyone stopped what they were doing and glared at her. "What?" she asked feeling all the eyes on her.

"You didn't just say that" Provenza grumbled.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Everyone knows that when you say that it only brings troubles" Detective Julio Sanchez explained leaning back on his chair.

"I usually don't agree with these superstitions," Lieutenant Tao intervened too "but it is statistically confirmed by surveys in police departments that incidents rapports increased after someone saying that it was going to be a quiet day"

Amy just eyed him. "Now you are just messing with me, there can't be a study about that"

"Maybe not, but if something happens today and I'm stuck in the office after hours, I'll know who to blame" Provenza commented pointing a finger at the younger detective.

 Sharon Raydor just shook her head at their attics smirking and walked to her office.

Andy noticed that she didn't even acknowledged him. She usually gave him a smile when she walked behind him. That special smile that made his day. He really screwed things up, he thought. An hour had passed. Everyone in the murder room was getting bored. The captain had been in her office all the time. The blinds were closed so Andy couldn't see what she was doing. Flynn bounced his right leg up and down nervously. He needed to talk to her, but he knew that here at work she was going to be defensive. In that moment he didn't care. He suddenly got up ignoring the questioning looks from the others. He knocked at the captain's door and without waiting for an answer he walked in.

"Andy, what?" she looked up from the papers startled.

He closed the door behind him. "We need to talk"

She sighed. "Not here" she closed her eyes and took her glasses off. "And besides, I think we've already said enough last night."

"I'm sorry"

"Yes, I've heard you the tenths of times you  already apologized last night and I've told you it's okay, there's nothing really much to say."

"And I feel like something between us has changed" he paced in front of her desk. "You don't trust me anymore"

"What? You got that from the few minutes we saw each other today?" she looked at him skeptically. "Nothing has changed. You explained what happened, I understood and forgave you. That's it!" she tried not to raise her voice, but also not to sound too patronizing. "And I still don't think it is appropriate to talk about this at work"

"Okay, so let me make it up to you. Let me take you out for dinner, tonight"

Going out to help him with his family was okay, but going out to dinner two nights in a row sounded a lot like dating and was a dangerous territory. "It's really not necessary." she shook her head. "There's nothing to make up for"

"I insist. The way my ex-wife treated you and how I deceived you... I... " he sighed deeply. "I need to make amends"

She knew this was his guilt from being an alcoholic talking. "Andy, I..."

Before she could answer, the door slammed opened. "Hey Flynn" Provenza nodded at his partner. "We've got a call. Gang shooting at a warehouse" he eyed the two frowning, but then shook his head thinking it was best not knowing.

"Okay, I'll gear up and be right behind you" he turned towards Sharon hoping she would give him an answer. After staring at each other silently, he walked out of the office.

"Andy" she called him. He looked at her hopefully. "Be careful out there" He nodded and left the room.

In the car Provenza kept staring at Flynn while his colleague drove to the scene. He had felt the tension  between his old friend and the captain when he had walked inside the her office. He wasn’t stupid and obvious, he knew that Flynn was walking next to a thin line. He had tried to save his partner from going to the theatre with Raydor, but his friend was too stubborn for his own good.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on here?" he tried to probe.

"Seriously? You want to talk now?" he drove fast on the motorway sirens on.

"Has something happened at the Nutcracker? Is that why you are acting all strange?"

"Look, can you leave it alone?" Flynn snapped.

"So there is an IT to talk about" Provenza raised his eyebrow and proud at his small conquest.

They arrived at the scene. The warehouse was among an abandoned complex. There weren’t to many places to hide and the atmosphere felt strange. Flynn and Provenza got out of the car while Sykes, Tao and Sanchez were already there.

"I thought there was a shooting?" Provenza opened his arms. "Why can't I hear any shots?"

"It's too quiet" Julio was suspiciously looking around. This part of town wasn’t usually gang territory.

"Hey, I've got a bad feeling about this" Flynn told them. "Let's put our vests on and move with caution.”

“Should we call for back up?” Amy asked the others.

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with first. No need to bring the cavalry if it end up being a prank call” Provenza made the decision .

They all agreed and after they suited up, they walked stealthily with their weapons drawn. All of a sudden shots started firing from above and they quickly took cover behind some crates. "Guys, we're out numbered!" Sanchez shouted above the shots. “I saw at least ten shooters”

"Call it in!"

Tao made the call for back up, but it was going to take some time for patrol to arrive. The closest one was five minutes out. They shot back, trying to resist.

Andy got up from where he was keeling behind a crate, shooting above and hitting one of their assaults, but before he could take cover again three bullets hit his chest.

"Flynn!" Provenza shouted, the scare of seeing his partner hit evident in his voice. "Sykes give me some cover."

The young detective followed his order and started shooting while Provenza ran towards his partner laying on the floor.

"Flynn"

The lieutenant moaned in pain. "It's okay" he tried to sit up, feeling slightly out of breath from the impact of the bullets. He is going to have bruises, maybe even a cracked rib "They've hit the vest"

"Flynn, you idiot" Provenza sighed in relief. "You made me run. You know I don't run" he grumbled, but he could help to feel glad that Andy was fine.

Back up arrived at the other agents helped to clear the zone. Three gangster were dead, four were injured while they managed to arrest another three.

Flynn tried to get up, but he collapse on his feet and groaned in pain. He was sweating and he suddenly felt a lot of pain at his side.

"Sir" Julio caught him before he could hit the ground.

"Flynn, are you sure you’re okay?" Provenza looked down at him worried.

"I'm..." then he felt the familiar metal taste in his mouth. he cough and blood came out of it.

"Lay him down" Provenza ordered "And get some paramedics here"

The others were helping securing the area, but they saw that something was going on and rushed towards them. Sanchez undid the vest and sled it over Andy’s head carefully. "There's blood" Right in that moment the saw a side entry wounded just below his left armpit that the vest didn't cover. "How..." they couldn't understand how he got shot there.

"Guys, I'm fine, really" Andy was waving them off. He knew he wasn’t, but he didn’t want to make a fuss out of it. He wanted to see Sharon again, take her out of dinner, tell her he was sorry over and over again and maybe she would let him kiss her.

"Flynn, you're not fine" Provenza snapped. "You were hit and the fact that you can't feeling that much pain means that you're in shock" he looked around. "Where are those paramedics?" He saw two young men rushing towards them pushing a gurney. Once they arrived at their position they immediately kneeled beside Andy.

The blood stain on Flynn's shirt was getting larger and larger as he kept loosing blood.

"BP is dropping" one of the paramedics said. "We need to take him away, immediately"

They put him on the gurney and the rest of the team saw him be wheeled away towards the ambulance.

Provenza was conflicted. As commanding scene officer he had to stay there to wait for FID to arrive and to deliver the incident report to both Raydor and Taylor, but that was his partner they were taking away, his best friend. The wound looked bad and if Andy didn't make it, he didn't want him to die alone. The decision was made for him.

"Louie," Tao called him and he knew he was worried too because for the first time in ever he used his first name. "You should go with them. We'll take care of this"

Provenza nodded and rushed behind the paramedics. Running twice in one day. If he got better, Flynn was going to pay for it.


	2. Chapter 2

The lieutenant reached the ambulance just in time and slipped in before they closed the back doors. "I'm coming with you" he said climbing on.

"Sir," the young paramedic started to protest.

"I'm coming with you and that's final, so get this thing going" he glared and the paramedic just made him room and started connecting Flynn to the machines. He was trying to put the oxygen mask on him, but the lieutenant was wriggling his head.

"Sir, you need to stay still"

Andy had his eyes closed, sweat was dripping down his face as he started murmuring in a state of delirium.

"Flynn!" Provenza shouted. "Flynn, don't you dare die on me. Remember our pact: no one dies until we're pensioners, no dying on the job. We’re supposed to go to the beach and flirt with all the young women.

"Sharon..." he muttered and Provenza looked at him with big surprised eyes. "Sharon... I'm sorry..." and with those last few words he rolled his head to the side and a flat beeping sound filled the ambulance.

"He's coding" they tried to restart his heart beat again while they arrived at the ER entrance.

When the doors were opened, Provenza jumped out of the way.

"Male, gunshot wound in the chest, he's been coding for less than a minute." The paramedic explained while the doctors took over.

"He is a cop!" Provenza pointed out at them and the doctors nodded in understanding as they pushed the gurney away and Provenza saw them disappear behind doors.

He ran his hands over his face and started pacing up and down. This wasn't supposed to happen. What exactly happened anyway?

"Sir?" a nurse approached him and he stopped abruptly "I'm sorry" she gave him an apologetic look. "You can wait in this area if you want." she showed him a secluded room. "I'll imagine others will come?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "There was a shootout, but Flynn" he gulped "I think he was the only cop who got hit. Some gang members were hit. Did they arrive here?" he asked.

"I don't think so" the woman frowned. "I'll check it for you, In the meanwhile, is there any family member we should contact?"

"I..." Provenza didn't know. Years before, he and Flynn put each other as emergency contact in the medical insurance policy. It was easier that way. Provenza had four ex-wives while Flynn wasn't exactly on friendly terms with his  and he didn't want to bother the kids. He knew he was trying to rebuilt that relationship, but would he want his kids to know? Yeah, he thought someone should call Nicole.

"I'll make the calls" he dismissed the nurse and she nodded leaving him alone.

He had been sitting on a chair staring at the white wall for nearly twenty minutes when the captain joined him.

"Lieutenant Provenza!" came the shriek from his commanding officer. " Everyone is looking for you and let me tell you; they are also very angry. You know you should have stayed at the crime scene, FID will have a field day"

"I was following an injured fellow officer" he snapped getting up from his chair angrily. He really didn’t need Mrs. Rule Book shouting at him.

"You should have sent someone else" She replied back trying not to look startled by the senior lieutenant reaction.

"It's Flynn we're talking about" he shouted even louder.

Sharon paused and gulped. When she had heard that Flynn got shot, she had to grip her desk tightly in order not to fall. She had quickly stood tall and put a strong front and walked out the office, ignoring Rusty’s shouts. She knew she should have driven to the crime scene, but once she had started the car, she took the direction of the hospital, she needed to be there with him. She needed to know more. But when she got the hospital, Captain Sharon Raydor walked in, but now the mask was slowly slipping away and Sharon took over.

"How is he?" she whispered afraid of the answer. She could see the fear in Provenza’s blue eyes.

"I don't know" he looked down pausing. "He was coding when we got here"

"Oh God" she gasped and brought a hand to her lips. The situation finally hit her, Andy was seriously injured. She quickly sat on a free chair.

"They haven't come back with news, that should be a good sign" he sat down too.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to hide her distress.

"Did you go to crime scene?"

"No, I've just spoken with Mike on the phone. He told me it was an ambush."

"Yeah, you could say that. When we got there it was all quiet, we immediately knew something was wrong. We suited up and soon as we stepped inside the warehouse they started shooting at us. We called for backup and tried to return fire while waiting. Flynn got hit on the chest three times but the vest stopped the bullets. I rushed towards him and he was talking and saying it was all fine. It was when it was all finished and he started to get up that he collapsed  and then I saw the blood. The entry wound was right underneath his armpit, where the vest doesn't cover." he paused "But it doesn't make sense: from where he and the shooters were standing it was impossible for him to be hit there" he was shaking his head. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Tao and Sanchez with SID are working the scene."

"Are the gang members we've arrested talking?"

"No, not yet. They have lawyered up. Amy can't interrogate them all at once and last I heard Rios on the phone, she was screaming about something" she paused. "You know you have to give report to FID, right?"

"Yes.. well, if they want to talk to me they can come here. I'm not moving until I know something" he felt her laying a hand on his arm  "Should we call his kids? I didn’t know what to do.”

"Oh right" she sighed. "I'm pretty sure Nicole would like to be here” As the captian it was her duty to call her officers’ family members in cases like this “I'll give her a call"

In that moment her phone in her hand rang and  they saw Taylor's name on the screen. She quickly dismissed his call earning a surprised look from Provenza.

"He called your name" he suddenly told her before she could make the call.

"What?" she shook her heat

"Andy, he called your name in the ambulance. Said something about being sorry"

"That man certainly has a strong guilty complex" she sighed. That was one of the things that made Flynn different from her husband Jack. Flynn was always trying to make amends with everyone, Jack never stood around long enough to even bother. She shook her head, when did she start comparing Flynn to her husband?

"What happened at the Nutcracker?" Provenza brought her back from her thoughts.

"What do you know?" she was planning on giving more than she needed to, that was Andy’s story to tell.

"Just that he inadvertently made his family believe that things between you two were more than friendly and when Nicole invited both of you to the theatre, he didn't want to disappointment her. I pretty sure he made a Flynn’s mess  out of it, like he usually does." He gave a small chuckle. He usually part of those messes.

She joined him. "He did"

"What I can't understand is why you're not pissed at him?" he stared at her seriously.

She looked at him in question.

"If it had been anybody else in the squad getting shot, you wouldn't be sitting here avoiding Taylor's phone calls"

"I don't like what you're implying lieutenant, so you better knock it off before it becomes inappropriate" she stood straight in the chair defensively. Was he right? Why was she here? Would it have been the same if Amy or Tao or Sanchez had been shot?

Like a sudden thunder, the waiting room door slammed opened.

"Have you two completely lost your minds?" A very angry Assistant Chief Taylor was standing at the door. "You can’t just sit and hide here and forget you've got a job. You" he pointed a finger at Raydor. "You need to go back to your office and coordinate your team. While you were here instead of the crime scene the finished processing and don’t know what to do next. While you..." he turned his head towards Provenza. "You need to speak to FID and pray they don’t decide to suspend you for leaving the scene"

Provenza stood up and walked menacingly towards his superior. "Like I told the captain, if FID wants to talk to me they know where to find me, I'm not leaving my partner."

Taylor sighed. "Lieutenant..."

"No," he shouted. "It's Flynn we're talking about. You know, you used to be friends once, if you ever had friends. I'm following one simple code rule: you don't leave your partner behind"

Taylor stared at him and he knew he wasn't going to win. "Okay, you can stay and I'll send Detective Elliot here. But captain..." he turned back to look at Sharon. "... you must go back to Major Crimes, this is not an option."

She slowly got up and nodded. "Okay, let me just make a call to Flynn's family and then I'll go back to work" she gathered her bag and swirled towards Provenza. "if you have any news..."

"I'll call you" he finished for her, his eyes unreadable. The argument wasn’t finished. He was going to let her ruin his friend’s life. He suspected that Flynn had a small crush on their captain. Who wouldn’t? Even if she got on his nerves, he had to admit that she was a very beautiful woman and Flynn had been spending too much time with her outside work. Not to mention all the times he saw him follow her around the office like a lost stray dog. No, that woman was trouble, she was the devil and he wasn’t going to let Flynn get burnt.


	3. Chapter 3

Sharon was driving back to the office. The traffic was slowly and she was stuck at a red light.  Her phone call to Nicole had left drained from all the last energy she had left. The young woman had wanted answers that she still couldn’t give her like if her father was going to be okay. She stared out of the window. Her fingers dried the tears in her eyes as she silently sniffed. She still had trouble believing that Andy was under surgery. She felt terrible. If only she had known what that day had in store, she wouldn't have dismissed him just hours before. She thought about the night before. How, despite everything, she ended up having one of the best nights in a very long time, other than the Nicole's wedding of course, and  it was ironic that Andrew Flynn had been there for both nights. The same Andrew Flynn that had made her work extremely difficult when she started in IA. The grumpy and always sarcastic and bitter lieutenant who she now considered a friend and maybe a bit more. The horn from the car behind her made her jump and she slowly moved the car forward keeping up with the traffic.

She exhaled deeply. She wasn’t supposed to be having these thoughts about her lieutenant, she was just asking for trouble and with everything that was going on in her life at the moment, she didn’t know if she could deal with a new and inappropriate romance. But she could still remember the night before.

_"I still don't get it" Rusty asked her from where he was leaning against her bedroom doorframe as he saw her struggling with the hook of her bracelet. "Why are you going out on a date with lieutenant Flynn?"_

_She rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration "For the last time: it is not a date"_

_"Yeah, yeah..." he replied in condescending tone "You're all dressed up and nervous. It is so a date"_

_"I am not nervous!"_

_He looked down at her trembling hands as they were still busy with the bracelet. She followed his gaze and stopped what she was doing. "I'm just going with him to his step grandsons’ performance. He wanted my opinion since my daughter is also a ballet dancer" Even now she knew that the excuse Andy made sounded so false._

_"So why the dinner before?"_

_"He wants to thank me for going with him" she sprayed some of her favourite perfume on her wrists and collarbone._

_"I'm telling you, something is going on" They heard the doorbell rang, Flynn arrived punctual._

_"Will you please open the door while I put my shoes on?" Sharon asked while sitting on the edge of her bed and slipped her toes in the blue high heeled shoes. She got up and checked herself at the mirror one last time. She had a long  sleeveless electric blue dress completed with a matching throw. She knew that even if it was LA, there was going to be a light breeze in the cold December night so she also put a black light coat. She picked up her handbag and went to greet her lieutenant._

_Andy was talking to Rusty her had a long coat and a white scarf. Underneath all, she could see a three pieced black suit and a perfectly knotted blue tie that quite coincidentally matched her dress. Sharon could help noticing that her lieutenant had cleaned up quite nicely for the evening._

_"Andy" she got the boys attention._

_"Hi" Andy gasped. Sharon looked beautiful. She might have been his captain, but he wasn't blind. He was a hot blooded man who could recognized a gorgeous woman when he saw one. "You look great" he complimented her  and in his stupor he might have sounded shocked._

_"You don't have to sound so surprise, lieutenant" she joked._

_"No, I mean..." he was stammering._

_"I'm just messing with you" She smiled at him and maybe even flirting. Rusty just rolled his eyes at them._

_"These are for you" he gave her a bunch of flowers so fast, like he had just realized they were in his hand._

_"Oh... mmm... thank you" She took them from him and passed them to the teenager boy. "Rusty, could you please put them in water?"_

_"So a date" he mouthed to her making sure the man wasn't looking at them. Sharon just scolded at him with her stare, like only a mother could do and turned around towards Andy "Shall we?"_

_He nodded and opened the door for her._

_The restaurant he had chosen wasn't too far away from the theatre. It was classy, but not in a romantic kind of way, which was good she mused. She wondered how he had managed to get a table on such a short notice, but she knew that with Flynn (or Provenza) it was better to leave those questions unanswered._

_They gave their orders to the waiter and took a sip from their glass of water. Flynn looked nervous for some reason and Sharon wanted to find out more about what was happening with her evasive lieutenant._

_"So..." she hid her lips behind the rim of the glass "Are you finally going to tell me what's really going on here?"_

_"I don't know what you're talking about" he took another long gulp from his drink._

_"Andy... okay... let's say we leave it alone..." she eyed him "...for now!"_

_They talked about everything from how Rusty was doing to Andy telling some old stories involving him and Provenza. Soon they laughed the dinner away and it was time to meet his family at the theatre. Sharon went to refresh herself in the ladies' room while Andy paid for dinner. When they were both ready they walked the short trip to the theatre. Andy offered his arm so she could walk steadily on her high heels._

_"Dad" his daughter greeted him when she saw them arrive._

_"Hi sweetie" he kissed her cheek tenderly and Sharon smiled at father and daughter._

_"Hi Sharon. It's so good to see you. I've been bugging dad to invite you over for some of our outings for ages. I don't understand why he is keeping you away from us"_

_Sharon tried not to frown at the young woman's words and turned to look at Andy who just nervously cleared his throat. "Yes... well... shall we go in? Where are Matthew and the kids?"_

_"They are behind stage. Matthew will be joining us soon. Dad..." her daughter sounded nervous. "Inside there is mom with Doug and also Scott managed to come from uni..."_

_"Scott is here?" Flynn's face lit up at the mention of his son's name._

_"Yeah, just please... ignore mom... if she's going to be as snappy as she is in the therapy sessions and just don't want another fight between the two of you"_

_"Hey, if she ignores me, I'll ignore her I have no intention of causing trouble."_

_She gave him a small smile, she just wished her parents would get along, just once. She told them to follow her towards their seats  at the balcony. Sharon could see that was nervous. It was easier to him to talk to his daughter, she was older and really easy going, but the story was different with Scott. He was only a little boy when Andy began having trouble with his drinking, so he couldn’t really remember him. He was just the guy that showed up at important events. He had a better relationship with his mom’s second husband, Doug, and that drove Andy crazy._

_Sharon took his right hand in hers and gave it a small squeeze. At first he was surprised by the gesture, but then he smiled in gratitude. She had done the same when his daughter got married._

_“Well, look who’s here” a blonde woman exclaimed. “It’s about time you arrived. I was nearly going to think you were going to bail on us… on your grandson… not that would have been surprised me”_

_“Mom” Nicole glared at her. “Dad is perfectly on time. You’ve promised you were going to behave!”_

_He felt Sharon squeeze again his hand and he managed not to snap._

_“Hello Anna” Andy greeted her  with a false smile trying very hard to ignore his ex-wife’s attacks. He knew what she was trying to do. She wanted him to get angry so he would something stupid, well he was going to give her that satisfaction. “Doug” he nodded towards her husband. He really couldn’t stand the guy he was false, acted like he was superior to everybody else and cheap, he guessed Anna finally found the perfect man for her._

_“Hi Scott” he waved at his son who just nodded in response._

_“I see you finally brought your girlfriend with you… what was it again? … Karen?”_

_“It’s Sharon and…” he stopped when he felt Sharon’s other hand on his arm._

_“Andy,” she wiggled her eyebrows. “Could we talk in private please?”_

_She was wearing a smile, but Andy could recognize that glare anywhere. “Sure” he gulped. “We’ll be right back” he told the others while guiding Sharon out in the hall with a hand on the small of her back._

_Once they were out of range to be heard, Sharon turned towards him. “Girlfriend?” she asked unamused._

_“Before you start shouting” he put his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t tell them we were together… well, not exactly…” he looked guilty._

_“And what exactly did you tell them?” she put her hands on her hips._

_“I told them you were my friend, like we agreed and then Anna thought I meant friend as in… you know… friend” he did some air quotes with his fingers. “I was going to correct her, but then Nicole told me how she was so happy for me. She said that you’ve made her such a good impression on her at the wedding and that she thought you were perfect for me and then Anna started making some comments and  I don’t know how I ended up going along” he stopped his rambling. “I’m sorry” he sighed. “I shouldn’t have brought you here on false pretences”_

_“Andy… you can’t just keep lying to your family. What if I have said no? What were you going to do?”_

_“Actually Provenza came with a plan so I wasn’t going to ask you, but…” he felt embarrassed by the all situation._

_“But?”_

_“I didn’t want to disappoint Nicole.” He confessed. “She wanted you to come so badly and I want to spend the holidays with her. I guess I’ve made a mess of everything.” He looked down beaten._

_Sharon kept his eyes on him. She shouldn’t get involved, she should just leave and make him deal with everything, but she knew he had done for his children. He was driven to build a relationship with them that he had lost sight of what was wrong and what was right. If only Jack had the same determination with their kids._

_She sighed wondering if she was crazy. “Okay, I’ll play along.” She saw him lifted his eyes surprised and hopeful. “But…” she pointed a finger at him and gave the famous Raydor glare. “only for tonight. Then you will tell your family the truth, is that clear?”_

_He quickly nodded. “Thank you for doing this”_

_“Well, it’s only sit on a chair for a couple of hours, how difficult is it going to be?”_

_“I’m sorry for lying to you” he told her sincerely._

_“You didn’t exactly lie… you’ve just omitted the complete truth.” She told him. “but I accept your apology. Andy, just don’t let it happen again” she put a hand on his arm. “If there’s something bothering you, you know you can come to me, right?”_

_“I know” he smiled at her._

_“Okay” she smiled back. “Now, I think Nicole is trying to get our attention” she saw the young woman waving at them from over Andy’s shoulder. “Shall we?” she put her hand out for him to take and together they made their way back._

_Since her plan to make Andy angry by criticize him every now and again wasn’t working, Anna decided to threw her witty remarks at Sharon hoping that Andy’s white knight complex would kick in._

_“At least you’re not as young as some women Andy used to go out with. I guess older women are the only ones that he can keep up with… if you know what I mean” she snickered during the break, making sure that her daughter wasn’t there to hear her._

_Andy was nervously fidgeting on his seat and wanted to snap back, but Sharon stopped him. “Leave it alone, she just wants to get under your skin” she whisper in his ear. “Besides, I can take care of myself, don’t worry” she grinned and Andy nodded. He just wanted the night to be over._

_After the Nutcracker was over, they all gathered around the hall. Sharon met Andy’s step grandsons who were two really cute and well behaved kids. Matthew’s first wife had died in a car accident a few years back. He had met Nicole at the kids’ school where she was a teacher. The two got to know each other and fell in love. She knew that they were in the process of having Nicole legally adopt the boys and she could help but think of Rusty wondering if she could ever adopt him._

_“Why don’t you come over to our place?” Nicole invited them. “We’ve hardly talked to each other.”_

_“Nicole, I…” he hesitated. “I don’t think that’s a great idea.” His eyes fell on Anna and Doug. He wanted to put as much distance between them and Sharon. “We’ve got work tomorrow and it’s going to be another early morning” he gave as an excuse._

_“Just an hour” she insisted “For a coffee.”_

_Andy looked at Sharon who, after a while, just nodded._

_“Okay” he said. “But just for a quick visit”_

_They drove behind Nicole and Matthew’s car and they had small talk about the ballet. Sharon told him that they boys had been really good and they could probably have a future career in ballet dancing. Andy groaned. His first grandkids had to be interested in something he knew nothing about while ignoring completely sports like baseball or basketball. Sharon just chuckled teasing him._

_After a quick drink and a few small talks exchange between Andy and his children, he and Sharon got up to leave. The kids had long gone to sleep after their big night, but they had enjoyed meeting Sharon who told them that her daughter was a professional ballet dancer in New York._

_“Well, thank you for inviting me Nicole, it was nice of you” Sharon thanked her._

_“No problem, it was great seeing you again. Dad is different when you’re with him, he looks… I don’t know… happier!” she smiled._

_Sharon blushed at her comment and let it slide. The misunderstanding was something that Andy had to clear. “Your dad is really trying to make things right between all of you, I hope you understand how lucky you are. Some people just give up” she told her._

_“I know, it’s good to have him around and get to know him better”_

_Andy walked towards them and helped Sharon with her shawl and she smiled in thanks._

_“Oh look!” Nicole exclaimed. “You two are under the mistletoe. Come dad, kiss your girlfriend”_

_Andy looked up nervously and just like Nicole said above their heads was the incriminating Christmas decoration. He looked back down to Sharon who had a frightened expression on her face._

_“Nicole, really it’s just a stupid Christmas tradition” he tried to get out of it. “We really must go”_

_“Oh, come on dad. What are you afraid of?” she teased him. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you kiss someone before”_

_Andy really didn’t know how to get out of it. He just couldn’t make out with his boss in front of his family. Sharon had been silent through all the exchange and she was really helping._

_“I…” he leaned down and gently placed a kiss on Sharon’s cheek hoping that she wasn’t going to slap him for it._

_“Ah, I knew!” his ex-wife exclaimed making everyone look at her. “You two are not really together, are you? No couple would kiss like that. She’s just one of your lies, isn’t she, Andy?”_

_“Dad…” Nicole gasped confused._

_“I was going to explain everything after tonight” he finally confessed. He was hoping to have a that talk in different circumstances._

_“Why lie?” she asked disappointed._

_“I never really told you that Sharon was my girlfriend. I just said she was a friend… but I admit I shouldn’t have gone along when you all thought otherwise. I… I just wanted to be the man you thought I was… the one you were proud of. I’m sorry”_

_“Is she really your boss or is she just a cheap escort you’ve hired?” Anna ignored his apology._

_“Anna” he snapped “That’s enough. You been rude to Sharon all evening and I think you should apologize”_

_“I’m not the one who went along with your charade” she puffed._

_“Andy” Sharon called him. “I really need to get back home”_

_He locked his eyes with hers and he could see how uncomfortable she was and also a hint of hurt, he really felt bad for putting her in this position. “Okay” he whispered to her. He turned towards his daughter. “I hope you’ll let me explain everything to you tomorrow” he begged._

_“I don’t know dad” she was hurt for him lying to them. “I just need a little time”_

_“Okay” he nodded sadly, but he understood._

_Sharon and Andy left Nicole’s house. The drive back was mostly spent in silence. Andy tried to apologize many times, but Sharon just told him everything was fine and it wasn’t his fault his ex-wife had been rude. Once they arrived at her apartment, he made sure she entered her condo safely. He tried talking to her again, but she just gave him a quiet goodnight and closed the door behind her. That wasn’t exactly how he hoped the night would end._


	4. Chapter 4

When Sharon arrived at the murder room, there was chaos everywhere. People were shouting and running from desk to desk, while phones were ringing. She really didn’t except to find this much confusion.

“Hey everyone” she shouted trying to get everyone’s attention. The only one that saw her was detective Sanchez who stepped next to her and gave a loud whistle.

Everything and everyone suddenly stopped. “Thank you, Julio” she smiled at him. “So, what’s going on?” everyone started talking at once and she winced. “One at the time, please. Tao, tell me everything”

“This” he showed the map on the board. “is an proximally map of the warehouse and where the shooters were. These are the trajectory of every shooter” he pointed at the red lines “and these are the our responding bullets” he pointed at the blue lines. “We’ve counted about 87 bullets and cases in total.”

“So, it was an ambush.” Sharon exclaimed “What about the 911 call? Any news?”

Julio answered her. “It was a burner phone, madam. You couldn’t trace the buyer and where it was bought, but they sent the tape.”

“I’ve listened to the tape and started analysing the background noise.” Buzz intervened. “I’ve made the vocal comparison against the shooters we have in custody, but no match”

“But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been anyone of the injured shooters or the ones that died. What about the shooters we have in custody? Do we know they identities?”

“They are all members of a minor gang, the Vochos” Julio explained. “They’ve always kept their distance from the cops. Never escalated like this”

“So what? Was it like a message? An initiation?” she crossed her arms.

“We don’t know, but from we got from the tape, they were targeting Major Crimes specifically”

She sighed. “Amy, any luck with the interrogations?”

“I’m afraid not, captain. Their lawyers are here and they said they want talk until we give them some kind of deal”

“A deal?” she exclaimed angrily. “Do they realize that they’ve shot at cops without reason? And if…” she swallowed the lump in her throat “And if Andy doesn’t make it, they are all  conspirators of first degree murder?”

“How is Andy, captain?” Tao asked and Sharon could see that they were all wondering the same thing.

“Provenza is at the hospital and he’ll let us know when they’ll tell him something. Andy is still in surgery and it looks like it’s going to be long before we’ll have news”

They all nodded sadly, they had been hoping for better news.

“About Andy’s entry wound,” Tao continued. “From what we remember where he was standing, the trajectory doesn’t  match up with any of the shooters positions”

“How can that be?” Sharon frowned.

“From where his entry wound was and the angle to hit him there, the shooter should have been here” he pointed at an open window on the top of the warehouse way distant from the gang members were.

“So there was another shooter?”

“And from that position it could mean only a sniper” Sanchez added.

“We need to make them talk. Who is the DDA in charge of the case? Rios called me rambling about something, but I wasn’t really paying attention to her”

“Join the club” she heard her foster kid comment from where he had joined them.

“Rusty” she rolled her eyes at him playfully. “Have you finished your homework?”

“Couldn’t really concentrate with all that was going on here. Was lieutenant Flynn really hit?”

She nodded. “I’m afraid so. He is in surgery right now”

“Is he…” He didn’t know how to finish. He now felt like every member of major crime division was his friend. He saw these people every day, it was strange hearing that one of them got hurt. Especially Andy. He knew Sharon wasn’t read to admit it, but he was sure the woman liked her lieutenant more than just a friend.

“Let’s not think about it.” She put an arm around his shoulders “What did you need?”

“Well, it’s nearly lunchtime. I came to see if you wanted something”

“I’m not really hungry, but thank you” she opened her purse “Here’s some cash. Maybe you and Buzz and your security detail can go and get something.”

He nodded and left with the electronic  technician.  

By the end of the afternoon they managed to get some information from the gang members. They were told that they had been hired by someone to drawn the major crime division to the warehouse and shoot at them. The guy paid them 50,000 $ in cash for the job and he was to give 5,000 $ extra for every agent hit or killed.  That’s all they got from them. They couldn’t even describe the guy because they had only talk to him by phone and they had found the bag full of cash in a deposit locker at the station.

Sharon had sent someone to process the locker and Buzz was working on tracing the phone number, but it had been a dead end.

They had decided to call it a day and an hour later  Sharon, Rusty and the rest of the team were walking inside the hospital towards the waiting area. As soon as she got walked in, Sharon noticed Nicole sitting nervously on a chair. Her eyes then landed on Provenza who looked even more tired than how she had left him that morning. A slow nod from her lieutenant told them that there was still no news.

"Sharon!" the young woman jumped from her seat and she rushed to hug the captain.

Sharon stood there awkwardly embarrassed as the others had their eyes on them, mostly with a shocked expression. She was pretty sure than no one had idea that she had gone to Nicole's wedding with Flynn, no one except Provenza and Rusty. She had no idea how Nicole was going to react to her presence after the eventful night the day before. After her and Andy had left Nicole’s house, she had the feeling that the oung woman needed some time to trust them again, but she felt the girl cry on her shoulder and Sharon put her arms around her in comfort. After a few minutes the girl stepped away, drying her eyes. "Sorry, I..."

"It's okay" she gave her a sad smile and kept a hand on her back. "How are you holding up?"

"It's strange. I'm sure dad has been hurt on the job before without us knowing, this... this seems different. I've never been on this side, he's always kept us away from his job. I mean... I know he's a cop and it's dangerous, it's just..." she started sniffing again.

"It's okay" Sharon slowly guided her back to her seat.

Nicole seemed to have just notice the other people in the room. "Hi" she gave a small  wave. "You must be all my father's colleagues." Her eyes landed on Rusty "And you must be Rusty. My father talked about you"

The boy looked at her surprised. "Lieutenant Flynn talked about me? Seriously?"

"Yeah," she gave him a smile. "In our family sessions. He told us you are a very bright young boy. even if he didn't say it, I know you mean a lot to him"

Rusty didn't know what to say, but Sharon could see he was touched that Flynn had such I regard of him.

Nicole's phone started ringing and she sighed when she saw it was her mother.

"Hi Mum" she got up and walked to a corner of the room. "No, I'm still at the hospital." She listened to her mum rolling her eyes at her even if she couldn't see her. "Of course I won't make it to your party tonight. No, mum I'm pretty sure getting shot and nearly dying isn't part of dad's master evil scheme to keep me away from it. Yes, I’m still staying here after what happened last night. He is my father" she told her angrily. "I'll call you when I have news, if you are even interested" she closed the call and threw her phone in her bag. "Sorry about that, she can be a bit..."

"Bitchy" Provenza muttered and Sharon glared at him.

"What he meant..."

"No, it's fine... I mean after the things she call you, I’m sure you have every right to hate her.  When we were kids my mother kept telling us that dad didn’t care for us, but I'm a teacher now. I know how parents that don't care for their children behave. They don't pay for child support, they don't go to the recitals, miss birthdays. Dad tried to do everything he could. He never missed a payment, he always sent cards and presents for our birthdays and when his job would let him, he was always there for our recitals. So I don't know what to believe anymore"

"Your father is good man. He would do anything for his kids..."

"Even create a girlfriend?" she chuckled.

"Where his your brother?" Sharon tried to change the subject, she didn't want the rest of the team to know what happened between her and Flynn.

"He will be here tomorrow. He had just got back on campus and had an exam in the afternoon. My husband  and kids will be..." in that moment the door opened and two little kids rushed in followed by distinguish young man.

"Hi mummy Nicole" the seven and six year old brothers embraced their stepmom.

"Hello little guys."

"Hi Sharon" they turned their heads towards the captain.

"Guys" their father reprimanded them. "I thought we agreed that you should call her Mrs Raydor"

"No, it's fine" Sharon waved him off smiling. "I've told them they could call me Sharon"     

"Oh, you must be Flynn's new step grandsons." Amy kneeled next to them. "You're so cute. Your grandfather is always talking about you." She frowned " But, how do you know the captain?"

"Sharon is Grandpa Andy's girlfriend." the younger one answered creating a sudden silence in the room as they all gasped in shock

"Sammy! Sharon is only Grandpa’s Andy friend, we've told you that" Nicole said trying to fix his mess and looking at Sharon apologetically.

"But they were holding hands yesterday and Julie at school said that only boyfriend and girlfriend can hold hands" he explained with the innocent that only children have.

Sharon looked away blushing well aware that everyone was looking at her, probably wondering why her and Flynn were seen holding hands and what she was doing with Flynn’s family anyway.

The door opened and the doctor walked inside. They all got up forgetting all about holdings hands and the captain and Flynn going out together.

"Doctor, any news?" Nicole asked holding her husband's hand.

He sighed and they knew he wasn't bringing good news. "Because of the trajectory of the bullet, there was a lot of damage. The bullet hit first his pulmonary artery and then it lodge in his liver.  We've repaired the damage on the liver and recovered the bullet, but for his heart... we repaired as much as we could, but he went into cardiac arrest a couple of times, so we've decided that the best way to proceed was to interrupt for now and continue in a second moment hoping that he will be strong enough for a second surgery"

"So you still don't know if he's going to make, that's what you're telling us" Provenza exclaimed.

"For now we've only done a temporary fix and he is in bypass. There are a lot of ifs to consider. He is now in ICU receiving all the best we can give him, but it's up to him and his body. Once his vitals are up and we are sure he can go through a second surgery, we will try again."

"Can we see him?" Nicole asked through her tears.

"Like I said he is in ICU and no visitors are allowed." He looked at the bunch of people surrounding him. "I guess a couple of you can go and see him through the window. That's all. Look" he told them frankly. "We won't have any news for a long time. I suggest you all leave for the night and came back in the morning. Here is the bullet we've recovered" Sanchez took the plastic evidence bag from the surgeon. "I'm sorry" he said before leaving the room.

Nicole cried in her husband's arm and even Sharon couldn’t hide the tears in her eyes.

"Captain" Sanchez and Tao  got her attention. They were looking at the bullet. "We were right. This bullet didn't come from the shooters in the warehouse. It's from a sniper gun."

The agents looked at each other, they knew what these piece of information meant.

"I want you to coordinate with the hospital and have two agents guarding Andy's room" she ordered and Tao and Sanchez went to make the arrangements.

Nicole shook her head in confusion. "What's happening? What's does it mean?"

Sharon sighed "It means your father was targeted, that someone organized the ambush so they could hit him" She didn't finish her thought but Amy and Provenza knew what she meant: someone might come back to finish the job.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Sharon got up very early and was soon out of her house. She had already told Rusty that his security guards were going to take him to the office that day because she needed to be somewhere else. She walked down the sterile hospital’s halls until she reached the right ICU room. She nodded at the two police officers patrolling the door and gave them a cup of coffee she had got for them on her way there.

“Any trouble?”

“No, captain. It was all quiet.” One of the agents answered before taking a sip of the welcomed hot beverage.

She nodded and looked through the room’s window. Andy was laying there still unconscious with wires and tube attached all over his body. He looked so unlike him, so different from the vibrant and passionate man she was used to see every day.

“You can go in, if you’d like” a voice from behind her told her.

“What?” she jumped turning around.

A nurse smiled at her and walked closer to her. “With the proper scrubs and if you sterilize your hands,  you can go in”  she repeated.

“Oh, I don’t…”

“It would be good for him” she insisted. “He is been fighting all night, you can tell he’s a strong will powered man. His vitals are looking good, but it’s always good for them to hear familiar voices, so they know who they are fighting for”

Sharon slowly nodded and followed the nurse instruction so she could enter without causing harm.

“I’ll leave you two alone” she whispered before walking away and closing the door quietly.

Sharon felt a bit out of place. The room was dark and the only noises were coming from the machines reading Andy’s vital and the bypass pumping his blood. She slowly took a step towards the bed. Andy was dangerously pale, she could see the five o’clock shadow on his face and the hospital sheet barely covered his chest leaving visible the white gauze around his abdomen where they had opened him up to repair the damaged caused by the bullet. A couple of times she heard him complain about the scar on his side left from when he had been attacked in the parking lot a few years back. That same night he had called her asking her to come over. She wondered what he was going to say about these new scars.

“Hey” she quietly said. “I don’t know if you can hear me or not” she lightly chuckled. “In any case I don’t really know what to say” she took his cold hand in hers. “I want you to fight, Andy. I need you to fight, because…” tears started forming in her eyes. “I don’t think I can make it through all this without you. I don’t know what it , this thing that’s going on between us. I mean… is there something going on or is it just my imagination? I should have said yes, I would have said yes to going out with you yesterday evening. Even if I don’t always show it, I really appreciate having you around. I really liked us going out together in these past few months, even with Rusty. I need you here with me” she laughed through her sobs  “and I guess we should probably talk about it when you wake up” She ran one of her hands through his salt and pepper hair and leaned down to kiss his forehead.

Just as quietly as she got in, she walked out of the room and was surprised to find Provenza there.

“Good morning” she told him taking off the scrubs. She had no idea what the lieutenant had seen through the window, but she wasn’t in the mood for another fight.

“How is he?” the older man skipped the greetings.

“The nurse said his vitals are improving which is a good sign. Maybe they’ll take him back to surgery today”

He nodded. “I gave all my testaments and wrote all the reports” he said “And I’ve already spoken to Taylor about taking today off.”

“Are you sure? We could really use your help in solving the case”

“No offence to the guards standing here, but if someone is after Flynn I would like to keep an eye on him myself”

She nodded in understanding. “Okay” She studied him silently. She really wished they could solve whatever conflict they had. She knew things had got better between, she considered Provenza a great help for dealing in all the Rusty situation and he was a very capable second in command. “Lieutenant, we really both care for Andy. We all want is well-being”

He scoffed.  “Of course. Look, it has always been me and Flynn and now you…” he waved his hands in an accusing way. “I don’t want to see him suffer.”

“You think I’ll hurt him?” she folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes.

“The last thing you need is adding someone else in your already complicated life and  I know Flynn. When he’s in, he is all in. So what do you think will happen when you won’t put him in first place? When he will want to be there for you and you’ll just push him away? Because that’s how you are. You’re a strong independent woman who had to take care of herself for a very long time, do you really think you can let him in?” he shook his head. “But hey, you both are adults…” he put his hands up in surrender. “At the end it’s all up to you”

Sharon didn’t know what to say, but Provenza’s words had planted a seed a doubt in her. Even if Andy wanted to build something with her, was is it going to be the right thing to do?

She walked outside the hospital towards her car. She was about to open the driver’s door when something on the windshield caught her attention. There was a white envelope stuck under the windshield wiper. She put on a pair of evidence gloves that she always carried in her purse and carefully opened the envelope to read the message inside.

_“You can’t run away from me. I’ve already taken care of that boyfriend of yours. Who will you think is going to be next? Bang Bang ”_

“Lieutenant Provenza” she called him on his phone as she swallowed hard. “I need you to come out here, parking lot A5.” She didn’t tell him more. Her eyes fixed on the message. Someone was playing with her, Andy was hurt because of her. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach, but swallowed the bile. Who was it? 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Is it from the same guy writing Rusty’s threats?” Amy Sykes asked.

After seeing the letter, Provenza agreed to go with Sharon back to the office. The rest of the team looked at it and, after making a copy on Tao’s computer, they sent the note down to the lab to have it analysed.

“No,” Tao shook his head. “The style is completely different, also the paper and the handwriting”

“Great, so now we have another psycho sending death threats” Provenza commented with his usual sarcasm.

“This is personal, captain. Have you got any ideas who could be behind this?”

“I don’t know, detective Sanchez, I’ve certainly made a lot of enemies in my career” she studied the words on the screen. “I don’t know, it sounds familiar… bang bang…” she paused. “I need to see all my old case files.”

“All of them?” Provenza opened his eyes wide “How many cases did you supervise in FID? It’s going to take us ages.”

“Well, we can eliminate all of them that had a positive result and focus on the big ones.”

“I’ll take care of that, captain.” Tao started typing on his computer. “Since they started digitizing all the old cases we can search for specific cases just by filling out some queries… and…  ah ah… that leaves us just about 25 cases to look through”

“Just?” Provenza grunted as his phone rang. He took a step back from the others to answer.

“Well, let’s get to work. Let’s start with the first one” Sharon sat on Andy’s chair as Mike Tao connected his computer screen to a projector.

“That was the hospital” Provenza returned. “Flynn is back in surgery” he swallowed. “Since his vitals were good they are going to try and finish the repair to his heart” he looked at Sharon. Despite the fact that he still wasn’t convinced about whatever it was between her and Andy, a person they both care for was fighting for his life and they should lean on each other for comfort. Sharon nodded at him and laid a hand on his arm. What they could do for now was finding the man responsible for all this.

By then end of the morning they had gone through twelve cases. Provenza, of course, didn’t spare them from commenting on each of them earning a couple of eye rolls from Sharon, but after case number 5 she mostly ignored him.

 “Darren Hunter” Tao read out loud. “A police officer convicted of corruption and second degree murder. He was sentence to 15 years and he got out about 6 months ago on parole…”

“Wait!” Sharon stopped him. “It’s him”

“How can you be so sure?” Provenza turned around to look at her.

“Bang Bang… those were the words he said to me when the trail ended before he was taken away. It must be him” she remember him clearly now. He had been one of her first tough cases. Hunter had a reputation in his district and many were scared of him, it hadn’t been easy to find witnesses willing to testify against him, but after he had been responsible for a young boy’s death, people started talking and she arrested him.

“Would someone please tell me what’s going on here?” Assistant chief Taylor walked in the murder room. “Why have you been looking at all your old cases, captain Raydor, instead of working on the shootout?”

Sharon had been postponing updating Taylor because that would have meant showing him the note and answering questions she  didn’t want to answer.

“We’ve acquired a new piece of evidence that took us that direction” she replied vaguely.

“What evidence?”

There was a moment of silence and finally Sharon nodded to Tao who, with just a few click, had the note on full screen.

“Sir,” Sanchez got his superior attention. “We know that there was a sniper at the warehouse and that he shot Flynn intentionally, we also know that the gang members were hired to ambush us and with the note found on the captain’s car…”

“Someone is targeting Raydor personally” Taylor nodded.

“And we know who. We’ve just found the case: Darren Hunter, he got out on parole six months ago and he might have still some friends in the department who could help him out.”

“Captain Raydor, could we speak in private in our office?” it wasn’t a request. Taylor turned around and entered her office.

Sharon took a deep breath before following him while the others exchange uncomfortable stares.

“Do you think it’s true?” Sykes suddenly asked to the room.

“What is true?”

“Well that Flynn and the captain are… you know…” she wiggled her eyebrows.

“What the captain or anybody else do in their private time it’s not anyone’s business” Provenza scolded her. “What’s our business is finding this guy and put him behind bars…again.”

Once inside her office, Sharon walked behind her desk putting something in between her and the chief. Since Taylor was standing up, she didn’t sit down and put her hands on her desk leaning on them.

“Is there something I should know?”

“About what, sir?”

“Let’s not play games here, captain. The note was pretty explicit. You know that a romantic involvement inside the office is not forbidden, however it’s preferred to be avoidable. If something is going on between you and Lieutenant Flynn you should report it to your superior, which means me.”

“Nothing is going on. Hunter just misinterpreted some friendly outings. I have been helping lieutenant Flynn reconnecting with his family by acting as a buffer and he in return has been taken me and Rusty to some baseball and basketball games so the boy could get out once in a while. Nothing more.”  Sharon avoided telling him the whole truth.

Taylor looked at her sceptically but then nodded. “Okay, let’s say I believe you, but if…”

“If something, hypothetically  speaking, will happen, I’ll follow the rules.”

“Okay, have you got a plan for capturing this Hunter guy?”

“He wants to play a game against me, let’s change the rules”

It didn’t take them long to discover that Hunter had been in contact with his former partner, Ray Pierson.

“You have only two chooses here, Pierson” detective Sanchez told him from the opposite end of the interrogation table. “You can collaborate and tell us where Hunter is or you can go to prison for attempted murder.”

“You don’t understand” Pierson whimpered shaking in his chair.

Julio slammed his hand on the table so loudly that he made him jump “No, you don’t understand. Your friend Hunter shot a police officer who is now in surgery. If he dies…”

“I didn’t want to… but he was blackmailing me… he had pictures of my affair… and he told me he was going to show them to my wife if I didn’t help him…”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know” Ray Pierson shouted desperately. “I didn’t know he was going to hurt someone. He just told me he wanted to scare Raydor… but…”

“But what?”

“He wanted to know how to get to the boy who is staying with her and I… told him I was going to make sure someone took care of his security detail.”

“Did you?” In the electronics room they were all dreading the answer.

Pierson slowly nodded. “It was going to happen today”

“Where is Rusty?” Provenza asked Sharon.

“He went to get some lunch with his body guards”  she was already reaching for her phone. Rusty’s phone rang a few times until he finally picked up. “Rusty!”

“Hey Sharon, what’s going on?”

“Where are you?” she tried to keep the panic out of her voice.

“At the bistro down the road. We’re getting sandwiches for everyone”

“Don’t you move okay, we’ll be right there and pass me one of your bodyguards”

“Sharon, what’s going on? Is it the letter guy?”

“Rusty, I’ll tell you everything later, just do as I told you”

She explained the situation to the guard while her and the rest of the team were already going down the lift. As soon as they were outside the building they started running towards the bistro.

“I knew you were going to rush down” Hunter was suddenly standing in front of her with a gun pointed at her. “I just needed to use that boy as bait. Ray played his part well”

“Hunter, put the gun down” Sanchez ordered him. All the officers had their guns pointed at him ready to shot.

“You know you’re going to die if you pull that trigger” Sharon warned him.

“I don’t care” he smirked. “As long as I bring you with me” he was about to pull the trigger when shots started firing. Hunter had been hit seven times before he landed on the ground.

“Captain” they all rushed to Sharon’s side.

“Captain, you’re bleeding” Sykes pointed out at her right arm. One of Hunter’s bullets managed to graze her skin.

“It’s nothing” she said while her eyes were searching for her foster kid.

“Sharon!” she saw him running towards her. “Sharon, are you okay? Oh my God, you’re hurt, we need to take you to the hospital…”

“Rusty” she put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m fine.” She reassured him. “It’s all over”


	6. Chapter 6

That evening they were all again at the hospital’s waiting room. Sharon had her right arm in a sling. The graze on her arm needed a couple of stitches and Sharon was under  doctor’s strict orders to keep her arm resting for at least a week. While they finished with the case, Andy’s had gone out of surgery. Nicole told them that it all went well and that the doctor said he would probably wake up soon. So there they were waiting for someone to tell them they could go and visit their friend.

A nurse finally walked in. “We’ve moved mister Flynn to a private room. You can all go and see him, but just for a few minutes, you are way too many” she laughed.

They followed her down the hall and she opened the door for them.

“Hey, what have you all been doing?” came a feeble voice from the bed.

“Dad” Nicole rushed to her father’s side and carefully put her arms around him. “They didn’t tell us you were awake.”

“Yeah,” he smiled painfully. “I wanted to surprise you” he tried to return her hug, but he was aching everywhere.

“It certainly is a good surprise, sir” Sykes smiled and Sanchez and Tao agreed.

“You know that while you were playing sleeping beauty here, we’ve closed the case.” Provenza muttered, but they all knew he was happy to see his old friend doing better.

“You know I wasn’t exactly taking a nap here” Andy grunted back.

“Yeah, yeah. Excuses. You just wanted a break”

“And it’s going to be a long break too. Doctor said I won’t be able to go back to work for at least five months.”

“So will we be expecting you back in four?” Sanchez joked.

There was a knock on the door and the nurse told them that they needed to leave soon. They all said their goodbyes and left the room. Nicole told her father that she was going to come back in the morning with Matthew and the kids and he just nodded smiling. His eyes were on Sharon. She had surprisingly kept quiet during the entire visit and he so desperately wanted to talk to her.

“Well,” Provenza scratched the back of his head nervously. His eyes jumped from Sharon to Andy. “I’m glad you didn’t die.”

“Me too” Andy chuckled, but then he groaned in pain.

“Let me just say that I don’t exactly approve, but if you two screw everything up, I’ll kick both of your asses” he said before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Andy frowned confused and turned towards Sharon. “What’s his problem?”

Sharon silently walked towards his bed and put her left hand on his, then she laced her fingers with his and started sobbing.

“Sharon, what…”

But the woman just leaned on him and cried. With incredible difficulty, Andy lifted his right arm and laid it on her back trying to bring her some sort of comfort. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay”

“I was scared” she finally said lifting her head up and drying her tears.

“I’m here” he smiled at her. His finger slowly traced her sling. “What happened to you?”

“It’s a long story, one that I probably don’t have a lot of time to tell” She took a deep breath and gathered some of her courage. “But for now, let me just do something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time” and she leaned her head forward slowly putting her lips against his. It wasn’t a strong breath taking kiss, his heart couldn’t manage something like that, but it was a kiss full of love and promise for the future.

Andy didn’t really know what was happening but he kissed her back as he nuzzled his cheek in the palm of her hand.

“Wow” he breathed once their lips separated. “I think I should get shot more often”

She rolled her eyes and playfully tapped his cheek. “We’ll talk more in the next few days.”

“I’m fine with just kissing.” He winked at her, but he was soon falling asleep from all the meds running through him.

She shook her head, but she couldn’t hide the smile on her lips. “Just rest, I’ll come by tomorrow”

“And then you can be my personal nurse”

“If you behave” she flirted back. “Maybe I’ll even give you a sponge bath”

“Oh, you tease” he groaned.

She suddenly got serious “Andy”

He held her eyes with his. All the things they needed to say were there in them. It was going to be hard and maybe they’ll even find a few obstacles on their way, but for now they knew they had a future… a future together.

THE END


End file.
